1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a type of home furniture known as a television cart (“TV cart”) and more particularly to a TV cart of variable width.
2. Description of the Related Art
A furniture maker may sell a TV cart without knowing the width of the buyer's television (TV). The buyer may replace the TV with one of a different width. If the cart is merely required to support the TV, it might be wider or narrower than the TV with little consequence. However, if home audio/video and consumer electronic entertainment equipment is to be housed near the TV, the consumer prefers to use space efficiently and create a pleasing appearance by surrounding the TV screen with cabinets, usable shelves, speaker towers and the like and not with odd-looking gaps and voids.
A TV space of variable width can be provided, for example, by a TV cart of fixed width at least as wide as the TV which rests on the floor and is bracketed on the left and right by cabinets or towers having sufficient void space to receive the portions of the TV cart that extend laterally beyond the width of the TV. Although this combination reduces gaps between the TV and the surrounding furniture, the cabinet void spaces occupied by the TV cart are unavailable for other uses and any portion of the TV cart that extends into a cabinet or tower is likely to be obstructed. Moreover, the portion of the TV cart that is unobstructed may be of unexpected dimensions. The consumer, not knowing what to do with this odd space and preferring not to see it, might simply cover it with a piece of fabric or screen cut to size.
A TV space of variable width can also be provided by a TV cart of variable width which rests on the floor and is bracketed by cabinets or towers. Such a TV cart will not invade the volume of a cabinet or tower, but will nevertheless have a void space and a front area of unpredictable dimensions.
Televisions today include not only CRTs, but LCDs, Plasmas, DLPs, Regular and High Definition models, Sony WEGAs and a host of other new technologies, all of which have styling with varying dimensions. A need exists for a way to house a television of any width within a range on a TV cart of variable width while preserving familiar usable space near the TV.